The reason I ended up on choosing this book was mostly because many people from both friends and family recommended this book to be telling me that if I liked Mafioso books, i should read the Godfather and then watch the movies with Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.
Genre:
"The Godfather", said to be one of the greatest novels ever to be created in the late 60's to early 70's, was a fascinating book that told people all over the world how families from the mafia were like and how they acted upon others. The book features a story of a powerful Italian family in New York from the time period from 1944 to 1955. This powerful family contains a leader (generally a man) to take charge of the family's problems in and out of the relationship with spouses to even friends that betrayed the family. This man was to be referred to as "Padrino" or "Godfather". This man was often part of the Italian mafia and took care of businesses both in Manhattan and upstate New York. The genre of the novel would obviously be Fictional Crime. The reason I say "obviously" is because The Godfather is a well- known franchise that started as the book in the late 60's and soon later became famous of it's movie franchise in the early 2000's. The book was banned by many churches and states because of the content in the story where the Catholic churches were receiving money from mafia for their own uses and not to support the church's funds.
Summary:
The summary of this novel consists of 9 stories. The first few tell the story from the leader of a mafioso family known as the Corleone's, a family that lives in Manhattan, New York City. This leader, Vito Corleone, is viewed as one of the greatest mafioso leaders to ever live because of his honesty, trustworthiness, and stability of his family businesses in and out of New York. This story begin where series of people have a problem either with family, financial, even revenge and try to ask Don Corleone (Sir or Lord Corleone) for compensation, help, or murder. The whole story is based on that their are people who are plotting against the family. This is first shown when The Godfather is shot in Little Italy after buying groceries for his house. He is sent straight to the hospital. His sons, Michael, and Santino, or also referred to as "Sonny", try to figure out who had shot him. They then come to the conclusion that people might was to try and kill Vito. So the transfer him to another room that was not designated to anyone and called for the more mafia members to safe guard the hospital. After sometime, the Godfather recovers from his injuries and decides that he should retire from his work. But before he was to retire, he wanted to find out who had tried to kill him. In process of almost figuring it out, Santino, his most trusted son was murdered at a toll stop and was shot to death by a group of gunmen on both sides of him. This shocked Vito and had finally decided to give his title to Michael, his most experienced son. During Vito's retirement, Micheal learns from him how to be successful. They also together try to identify the killer of Santino who they now know is amongst the family.
Character Summaries:
Vito (Andolini) Corleone (The Godfather):
Is described as a old man with grey hair and a jet black mustache and "had a jaw protruding with power". He was often depicted as a mid-aged man but later on in the story is identified as a older man. He was one of the greatest Mafia leaders in honesty, trustworthiness, and productivity. He had a big past that started in a little town in Sicily called Corleone. His mother was murdered trying to protect him from a horrible mafioso leader in the town. After escaping from the leader, he immigrated to America and was soon hospitalized with being diagnosed with chickenpox. Upon immigration, his name was changed from Vito Andolini to Vito Corleone, named after his hometown. After some years, he went back to Sicily to avenge his mother and killed the leader unexpectedly. He returned to New York and met his second wife, to that they had 4 children, Michael (sometimes called Mike), Santino (Sonny), Fredricco (Fredo), and Constanza (Connie) Corleone. One of Vito's most famous quotes to Michael as he was to become the leader was, "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer," this means that you always want to keep your friends close to you because they are people you can trust and rely on. The second part of this means that your enemies are always going to be out there seeking to harm you so you want to keep an extremely close eye on them in order to make sure that they are not going to hurt you. It means that you always have to know what your enemies are doing. Or for a reference, as a war tactic, know what the enemy is doing so you don't get ambushed.
Michael Corleone (The Successor):
Son of Vito Corleone, Michael Corleone became the Godfather after the announcement from Vito that he was going to retire. Michael is described as a strong and stubborn man that always thought about the best things for the family and often did things only related to the family. As Vito puts it, "He was born to become a successor", meaning that Michael was born to succeed himself and become even more successful than him. This became true, being the most liked son of Vito. After his father's death, Michael wanted the best for the family. Before handling any situations with business he made sure that his siblings and relatives were safe and sound in their homes and such, he also was making sure that had protection. After this, he then dealt with opening more businesses to compensate after both the death of his brother, Santino, and the death of his father, Vito. this involved, drug dealing and alcoholic beverages. In this change, he was described as "stressed but still stubborn in his way of life". Michael's physical features included jet black hair, big-eyed, a clean face, and a face with determination.
Fredricco "Fredo" Corleone (The Eldest Son):
Brother of Michael, he was often the confused and careless one. He was often jealous of his brother that Micheal would become the successor of their father even though he was younger than Fredo. Fredo is not mentioned very often in the book but serves as an important character during the second part of the book. Fredo is first mentioned at his brother's, Santino (Sonny), wedding at the beginning of the book. He supports Vito, the first Godfather, in traveling on many businesses that were out of New York, for example, Las Vegas. He is then mentioned again towards the middle of the novel where he disappears from Micheal to hide the fact that he had almost organized a murder against him during a vacation in California. This was taken into note by Michael and finally found that his brother was culprit but did not do the shooting in the first place. For this, he gave Fredo the chance to redeem himself by attempting tasks for Michael till Micheal was old and died.
Big Ideas:
Stubbornness:
Throughout the whole story of The Godfather, there is a lot of examples of stubbornness from both of the Godfathers. Michael, for one, always wanted to be successful in his "business" as he calls it when talking to his family. This stubbornness affects the family in many ways that help Micheal and Vito to stay strong and resolute under protection of siblings and spouses.
Determination:
Determination was the key motto for Michael Corleone. He had a lot of determination that led him to be the successor of his father and was able to become the new leader family by strategizing in a completely different way than his father. He was said to be a more iconic villain that never gave up in any situation. This determination also led to the death of many people who were found betraying the family.
Honor:
Honor is found all over the Corleone Family and acts as a symbolic motto.The family always must honor the leader and asked for help in any situation needed. If this honor is not found and could become harmful for the rest of the family, that person must live in a different area than New York and be almost considered as not part of the family, or try to do something helpful for the leader for sometime in order to compensate.
Major Conflict:
The major conflict in the novel concerns the competing pulls of family and the business of organized crime. The family has many disputes with Michael because they soon find out that he has been working with businesses like the mafia and tries to pull information out from him. In this process, he begins to hide information into members of the mafia to hide most of the work from the family uninformed. This information is then made public within the family secretly by someone and Micheal has to found out who.
Symbolic Image:
Here is my drawing of Vito Corleone, The Godfather. I display him as an older man (towards the time of his retirement) and try to show the emotions in his face. My drawing tries to describe him with the sadness, stress, power and wealth in his face and body features. He wears a black tuxedo with a rose in its chest pocket. His face is long and wide with smooth wrinkles around the mouth and eye areas.
New and Unusual Words That are Found Throughout the Novel:
Submission:
"The two young men, glossy hair hair crew cut, scrubbed clean-cut faces composed into humble contrition, bowed their heads in submission."- (Book I: Chapter 1;Page 11; Line 12)
The definition of "submission" is the act of submitting an idea or instance
Muster:
"Paulie Gatto would now muster the necessary manpower and execute the orders"- (Book I: Chapter 1; Page 49; Line 14)
The definition of "muster" means to gather or assemble a certain ability or information that is needed.
Contemptuous:
"Proud men demeaned themselves and their families to accept official charity from a contemptuous officialdom"- (Book III: Chapter 14; Page 215; Line 18)
The definition of "contemptuous" means to express or show contempt which is a feeling in which you are despised, dishonored or scorned.
Unobtrusively:
"Unobtrusively, Hagen sat in the chair slightly to the Don's left and behind him."- (Book V: Chapter 20; Page 287; Line 3)
The word "Unobtrusively" is an adjective that describes something as inconspicuous, secretive or conservative.
Rebuke:
"Rocco accepted the rebuke in silence."- (Book VIII: Chapter 31; Page 430; Line 8)
The meaning of the word "rebuke" is to express a sharp disapproval of something, generally having to do with an opinion or idea.
Adaptations:
"The Godfather" was a very popular book when it was originally published in 1969, but what really moved people about this magnificent story was the trilogy of movies created a man named Francis Ford Coppola. "The Godfather Trilogy" made its debut in 1972 with the first part of the story. The story was twisted in a way that the ending of the novel happened to early in the story line in the movie that it confused a lot of people who had read the book before the movie. Marlon Brando played as Vito 'Corleone and Al Pacino played as Micheal Corleone. Two other parts of the story were added in later years and were named "The Godfather Part II" and "The Godfather Part III". Other than movies that made "The Godfather" famous, were video games based off of "The Godfather" story line. The story line of the video games were viewed by a "soldier" or member of the Corleone Family and how the mafia works within and not just from the leaders point of view. From reading this book, I have had a better understanding how horrible the Mafia was like in the early 40's through early 50's. I can compare only one other piece of work that is somewhat similar to that of "The Godfather". One of the most suspenseful horror/ mystery stories in the world that has had a great impact would be the book, "Silence of the Lambs". This book is taken in the view of a mid-aged woman named Clarice Starling, who is learning to become an official F.B.I. agent. She is requested to go and interview a cannibalistic serial killer called Dr. Hannibal Lecter and try to get out of him information about a suspect for another case. The way that Dr. Lecter talks to Clarice is almost the same way that Michael Corleone would act towards someone who betrayed him.
"The Godfather" a novel by Mario Puzo
Summary by Fernand Qvyjt
The reason I ended up on choosing this book was mostly because many people from both friends and family recommended this book to be telling me that if I liked Mafioso books, i should read the Godfather and then watch the movies with Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.
Genre:
"The Godfather", said to be one of the greatest novels ever to be created in the late 60's to early 70's, was a fascinating book that told people all over the world how families from the mafia were like and how they acted upon others. The book features a story of a powerful Italian family in New York from the time period from 1944 to 1955. This powerful family contains a leader (generally a man) to take charge of the family's problems in and out of the relationship with spouses to even friends that betrayed the family. This man was to be referred to as "Padrino" or "Godfather". This man was often part of the Italian mafia and took care of businesses both in Manhattan and upstate New York. The genre of the novel would obviously be Fictional Crime. The reason I say "obviously" is because The Godfather is a well- known franchise that started as the book in the late 60's and soon later became famous of it's movie franchise in the early 2000's. The book was banned by many churches and states because of the content in the story where the Catholic churches were receiving money from mafia for their own uses and not to support the church's funds.Summary:
The summary of this novel consists of 9 stories. The first few tell the story from the leader of a mafioso family known as the Corleone's, a family that lives in Manhattan, New York City. This leader, Vito Corleone, is viewed as one of the greatest mafioso leaders to ever live because of his honesty, trustworthiness, and stability of his family businesses in and out of New York. This story begin where series of people have a problem either with family, financial, even revenge and try to ask Don Corleone (Sir or Lord Corleone) for compensation, help, or murder. The whole story is based on that their are people who are plotting against the family. This is first shown when The Godfather is shot in Little Italy after buying groceries for his house. He is sent straight to the hospital. His sons, Michael, and Santino, or also referred to as "Sonny", try to figure out who had shot him. They then come to the conclusion that people might was to try and kill Vito. So the transfer him to another room that was not designated to anyone and called for the more mafia members to safe guard the hospital. After sometime, the Godfather recovers from his injuries and decides that he should retire from his work. But before he was to retire, he wanted to find out who had tried to kill him. In process of almost figuring it out, Santino, his most trusted son was murdered at a toll stop and was shot to death by a group of gunmen on both sides of him. This shocked Vito and had finally decided to give his title to Michael, his most experienced son. During Vito's retirement, Micheal learns from him how to be successful. They also together try to identify the killer of Santino who they now know is amongst the family.Character Summaries:
Vito (Andolini) Corleone (The Godfather):
Is described as a old man with grey hair and a jet black mustache and "had a jaw protruding with power". He was often depicted as a mid-aged man but later on in the story is identified as a older man. He was one of the greatest Mafia leaders in honesty, trustworthiness, and productivity. He had a big past that started in a little town in Sicily called Corleone. His mother was murdered trying to protect him from a horrible mafioso leader in the town. After escaping from the leader, he immigrated to America and was soon hospitalized with being diagnosed with chickenpox. Upon immigration, his name was changed from Vito Andolini to Vito Corleone, named after his hometown. After some years, he went back to Sicily to avenge his mother and killed the leader unexpectedly. He returned to New York and met his second wife, to that they had 4 children, Michael (sometimes called Mike), Santino (Sonny), Fredricco (Fredo), and Constanza (Connie) Corleone. One of Vito's most famous quotes to Michael as he was to become the leader was, "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer," this means that you always want to keep your friends close to you because they are people you can trust and rely on. The second part of this means that your enemies are always going to be out there seeking to harm you so you want to keep an extremely close eye on them in order to make sure that they are not going to hurt you. It means that you always have to know what your enemies are doing. Or for a reference, as a war tactic, know what the enemy is doing so you don't get ambushed.Michael Corleone (The Successor):
Son of Vito Corleone, Michael Corleone became the Godfather after the announcement from Vito that he was going to retire. Michael is described as a strong and stubborn man that always thought about the best things for the family and often did things only related to the family. As Vito puts it, "He was born to become a successor", meaning that Michael was born to succeed himself and become even more successful than him. This became true, being the most liked son of Vito. After his father's death, Michael wanted the best for the family. Before handling any situations with business he made sure that his siblings and relatives were safe and sound in their homes and such, he also was making sure that had protection. After this, he then dealt with opening more businesses to compensate after both the death of his brother, Santino, and the death of his father, Vito. this involved, drug dealing and alcoholic beverages. In this change, he was described as "stressed but still stubborn in his way of life". Michael's physical features included jet black hair, big-eyed, a clean face, and a face with determination.Fredricco "Fredo" Corleone (The Eldest Son):
Brother of Michael, he was often the confused and careless one. He was often jealous of his brother that Micheal would become the successor of their father even though he was younger than Fredo. Fredo is not mentioned very often in the book but serves as an important character during the second part of the book. Fredo is first mentioned at his brother's, Santino (Sonny), wedding at the beginning of the book. He supports Vito, the first Godfather, in traveling on many businesses that were out of New York, for example, Las Vegas. He is then mentioned again towards the middle of the novel where he disappears from Micheal to hide the fact that he had almost organized a murder against him during a vacation in California. This was taken into note by Michael and finally found that his brother was culprit but did not do the shooting in the first place. For this, he gave Fredo the chance to redeem himself by attempting tasks for Michael till Micheal was old and died.Big Ideas:
Stubbornness:
Throughout the whole story of The Godfather, there is a lot of examples of stubbornness from both of the Godfathers. Michael, for one, always wanted to be successful in his "business" as he calls it when talking to his family. This stubbornness affects the family in many ways that help Micheal and Vito to stay strong and resolute under protection of siblings and spouses.Determination:
Determination was the key motto for Michael Corleone. He had a lot of determination that led him to be the successor of his father and was able to become the new leader family by strategizing in a completely different way than his father. He was said to be a more iconic villain that never gave up in any situation. This determination also led to the death of many people who were found betraying the family.Honor:
Honor is found all over the Corleone Family and acts as a symbolic motto.The family always must honor the leader and asked for help in any situation needed. If this honor is not found and could become harmful for the rest of the family, that person must live in a different area than New York and be almost considered as not part of the family, or try to do something helpful for the leader for sometime in order to compensate.Major Conflict:
The major conflict in the novel concerns the competing pulls of family and the business of organized crime. The family has many disputes with Michael because they soon find out that he has been working with businesses like the mafia and tries to pull information out from him. In this process, he begins to hide information into members of the mafia to hide most of the work from the family uninformed. This information is then made public within the family secretly by someone and Micheal has to found out who.Symbolic Image:
Here is my drawing of Vito Corleone, The Godfather. I display him as an older man (towards the time of his retirement) and try to show the emotions in his face. My drawing tries to describe him with the sadness, stress, power and wealth in his face and body features. He wears a black tuxedo with a rose in its chest pocket. His face is long and wide with smooth wrinkles around the mouth and eye areas.
New and Unusual Words That are Found Throughout the Novel:
Submission:
"The two young men, glossy hair hair crew cut, scrubbed clean-cut faces composed into humble contrition, bowed their heads in submission."- (Book I: Chapter 1;Page 11; Line 12)The definition of "submission" is the act of submitting an idea or instance
Muster:
"Paulie Gatto would now muster the necessary manpower and execute the orders"- (Book I: Chapter 1; Page 49; Line 14)The definition of "muster" means to gather or assemble a certain ability or information that is needed.
Contemptuous:
"Proud men demeaned themselves and their families to accept official charity from a contemptuous officialdom"- (Book III: Chapter 14; Page 215; Line 18)The definition of "contemptuous" means to express or show contempt which is a feeling in which you are despised, dishonored or scorned.
Unobtrusively:
"Unobtrusively, Hagen sat in the chair slightly to the Don's left and behind him."- (Book V: Chapter 20; Page 287; Line 3)The word "Unobtrusively" is an adjective that describes something as inconspicuous, secretive or conservative.
Rebuke:
"Rocco accepted the rebuke in silence."- (Book VIII: Chapter 31; Page 430; Line 8)The meaning of the word "rebuke" is to express a sharp disapproval of something, generally having to do with an opinion or idea.
Adaptations:
"The Godfather" was a very popular book when it was originally published in 1969, but what really moved people about this magnificent story was the trilogy of movies created a man named Francis Ford Coppola. "The Godfather Trilogy" made its debut in 1972 with the first part of the story. The story was twisted in a way that the ending of the novel happened to early in the story line in the movie that it confused a lot of people who had read the book before the movie. Marlon Brando played as Vito 'Corleone and Al Pacino played as Micheal Corleone. Two other parts of the story were added in later years and were named "The Godfather Part II" and "The Godfather Part III". Other than movies that made "The Godfather" famous, were video games based off of "The Godfather" story line. The story line of the video games were viewed by a "soldier" or member of the Corleone Family and how the mafia works within and not just from the leaders point of view. From reading this book, I have had a better understanding how horrible the Mafia was like in the early 40's through early 50's. I can compare only one other piece of work that is somewhat similar to that of "The Godfather". One of the most suspenseful horror/ mystery stories in the world that has had a great impact would be the book, "Silence of the Lambs". This book is taken in the view of a mid-aged woman named Clarice Starling, who is learning to become an official F.B.I. agent. She is requested to go and interview a cannibalistic serial killer called Dr. Hannibal Lecter and try to get out of him information about a suspect for another case. The way that Dr. Lecter talks to Clarice is almost the same way that Michael Corleone would act towards someone who betrayed him.http://quarteronebook.wikispaces.com/Fernand